Vigor of Twelve is a play off of the fact that Jesus had twelve disciples. It is a name that helps stress an importance on discipleship. This blog is specifically geared for younger people and mature Christians who don't mind a fresh, bold, and blunt approach to faith. Comments welcome, let's begin the discussion!

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Saturday, June 4, 2016

Luke 10:17-20

Luke 10:17-20

And the seventy returned with joy while saying, “Even the
demons are being placed in subjection to us in your name!” And He said to them, “I was seeing Satan fall
as lightening out of heaven.
Behold! I have given you the
authority to tread over serpents and scorpions and upon every power of the
enemy. And nothing will surely do wrong
to you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in
this: that the spirits are being placed in subjection to you all. Rejoice that your name has been written in
heaven.

Thoughts
for Today

First Thought:

The large group of disciples return to Jesus having been
sent out by Him. They come back with
joy. Let’s face it, it feels good to be
successful. There is joy in
success. However, the disciples also
come back in a bit of amazement. We can
hear it in their words. They were
successful at something that they thought impossible. They are seeing evidence of their change in
status as they grow closer to the Father.
This also brings about joy – as it should.

Where are you successful in the kingdom of heaven? Where are you seeing evidence of your
changing and deepening relationship with the Lord?

Second Thought:

In response to the disciples, Jesus gives us an often quoted
and extremely obscure passage. “I saw
Satan fall from heaven as lightening.”
It is hard to tell exactly what Jesus is getting at in this as He doesn’t
offer any further explanation. But I
think we can safely get at least two messages.
First, we can know that Jesus is eternal, since He was there to see it
happen. Second, we can learn that Satan
did indeed fall from grace. This means
that those who are still in grace – included those of us in creation who have
been redeemed back into grace – are in better standing with the Father of
creation. This gives us the reason that
demons are subject to us in the name of Christ.
Because of our status with the Father in Christ, we have better status
than Satan and His powers.

How often do you think of your status with God? Why is this important to consider?

Third Thought:

Immediately Jesus gives His disciples a
warning. As soon as we talk about
status, we must also warn against pride.
Human beings like power. We love
to be in control. We like being the top
dog – or at least in the top half of the pack.
We like to be right. We enjoy
having other people obey us far more than we enjoying having to obey
others. So Jesus warns us. Do not rejoice that others are subject to
you! Rejoice that your name is in
heaven. In other words: stay humble! Our status with God is a free gift of grace,
not something we earned! We only have
status with the Father because He loves us.
We should rejoice in His love, not our power.

How much do you like power? What has God done in your life to demonstrate
that you have access to His power? What
has God done in your life to help humble you in the power that He has given to
you?